Why are so many experts so wrong, yet people keep listening to them? Who really is worth listening to about the future? The author of Expert Political Judgement builds on Isaah Berlin’s characterization of judgment modes into Hedgehogs (who know one big thing) and Foxes (who know many things). Hedgehogs don’t notice and don’t care when they’re wrong; that’s why they’re so compelling. Foxes learn.
boxman
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James Box
I bought a plastic bag. The bottom fell out.
There are two people in boxman’s collective.
Huffduffed
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How Prosperity Evolves
With our economy a shambles and our environment threatened, is there any reason to be optimistic about the future? Matt Ridley says there’s scientific proof to say we should be.
Tagged with science biology evolution book:author=matt ridley
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Sound map: the Caledonian Road
Award winning broadcaster and oral historian Alan Dein walks us down the Caledonian Road, telling the story of the north London street through the voices of the people who live and work on it.
Tagged with london caledonian road alan dein city guides the guardian guardian
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Science Fiction versus Mundane Culture
Neal Stephenson explores the distinguishing features of the world of Science Fiction.
Tagged with nealstephenson greshamcollege sciencefiction
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The Psychology of Performing Arts: The power of music
How does music exert such extraordinary effects on our emotions? To what extent does it depend upon our nature (biological rhythms, instinctive reactions to certain sound patterns) and to what extent experience (e.g. conditioned associations, nostalgia)? Particular attention is given to the tension-reduction and optimal uncertainty theories of musical enjoyment. We will also consider whether there is any truth in the claim that listening to music can increase intelligence in the listener (the so-called ‘Mozart Effect’).
Tagged with glennwilson greshamcollege music psychology
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The Question of Beauty in Architecture
Alain de Botton, writer, broadcaster and producer, ponders the question of beauty and its application to architecture.
Tagged with alaindebotton architecture greshamcollege
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Visual Perception
The eye, although a critical component of sight, is not where vision occurs. The ability to interpret the signals generated in the eye by the brain allows for the perception of vision. Sight is a complex sense requiring co-ordinated interaction amongst many regions and pathways of the brain. The untangling of these processes from the age of enlightenment through psychological experiments with optical illusions, to modern neural imaging, has revealed fundamental mechanisms of how the brain works.
Tagged with williamayliffe greshamcollege
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London’s Lost Rivers: The Hackney Brook and other North West Passages
Iain Sinclair takes a look at the rivers of London which have either faded out of the minds of Londoners or else disappeared completely. He considers what relationship these ‘lost’ rivers have with the idea of ‘northness’ within London and beyond.
Tagged with greshamcollege iainsinclair london lost rivers
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100 Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know
This event marks the publication of John D Barrow’s latest book. 100 Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know answers one hundred essential questions of existence. From winning the lottery, placing bets at the races and escaping from bears to sports, Shakespeare, Google, game theory, drunks, divorce settlements and dodgy accounting; from chaos to infinity and everything in between.
Tagged with johndbarrow gresham college
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Fun Inc.: Why games are the 21st century’s most serious business
Why should we be taking video games more seriously?
In 2008 Nintendo overtook Google to become the world’s most profitable company per employee. The South Korean government will invest $200 billion into its video games industry over the next 4 years. The trading of virtual goods within games is a global industry worth over $10 billion a year. Gaming boasts the world’s fastest-growing advertising market.
In addition to these impressive statistics, video games are creating a whole new science of mass engagement which is beginning to revolutionise the way we research and understand economics, human behaviour and democratic participation. Games are used to train the US Military, to model global pandemics and to campaign against human rights abuses in Africa.
Journalist and author Tom Chatfield visits the RSA to examine the ways in which virtual game worlds can function as unprecedented laboratories for exploring human motivations, and for evaluating economic theories that it has never been possible before to test experimentally.
He will argue that games are becoming one of the most powerful tools available for raising awareness of political, ethical and environmental issues, and promoting action across an extraordinary range of fields and disciplines – from medicine to warfare to, perhaps most importantly, education.
Response by Ed Vaizey MP, Shadow Minister for Culture
Chaired by Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC technology correspondent
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